UK online sales grew in August, compared to the same time last year, but fell compared to the previous month, new figures released by the Office for National Statistics suggest today.
The Retail Sales, August 2015 report estimates that the value of ecommerce sales grew to £800m a week in August, 7.4% ahead of August 2014. The value of sales was down by 2.7% compared to the previous month, July 2015.
The proportion of sales transacted online also continued to grow, with 12.2% of all retail spending taking place over the internet in August, compared to 11.5% in August 2014.
A similar pattern was seen in wider UK retail sales across all sales channels. Shoppers spent some £28.5bn, or £6.9bn a week, at UK retailers in August, up by by 0.2% on last year’s monthly spend of £6.9bn, but down by 0.3% on July’s £7.1bn. However, the volume of sales increased year-on-year for the 29th month in a row, this time by 3.7%. Compared to the previous month, the volume of sales was up by 0.2%.
Online food sales grew quickly during the month, rising by 10.9% to reach 4.2% of the total spent on food during the month. Growth in online sales was fastest in the textile, clothing and food category (+12.3%; 12.9% of sales took place online) and the household goods category (+12.5%; 12.9% online), while department stores saw relatively slow growth at 2.8%, with 10.7% of sales taking place online.